Ker seeks central assistance of Rs 7340 crore

Kerala today sought a special central assistance of Rs 7340 crore for rehabilitation and rebuilding of the Ockhi cyclone affected coastal villages here.
The special package was sought by Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here this evening.
Modi, who arrived after visiting Kavaratti in Lakshadweep, Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Poonthura near Thiruvanathapuram, held a meeting with Vijayan, state ministers and officials.
This package is besides the Rs 422 crore sought by the state under the National Disaster Relief Fund.
The prime minister assured the chief minister and others that the package would be considered sympathetically, a government release said.

The state also wanted the Centre to declare the devastation as a National disaster.

The prime minister said the centre would seriously examine Kerala's report that the state had not received any prior cyclone alert, according to the release.
At the meeting, the chief minister said the state government had made all possible efforts to rescue the cyclone victims and provide them relief.
The state government was seeking the special package as the Rs 422 crore, calculated under the NDRF, was insufficient to meet the actual loss due to the devastation caused by the cylone.
The cylone, which had caused unprecedented damage in the state, had so far claimed 71 lives, Vijayan said.

Efforts are still on to trace those missing, he added.
The chief minister also lauded the efforts made by the Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard who were involved in the search and rescue operations under the coordination of Home and Defence ministries.
Vijayan had earlier met Union Home minister Rajnath Singh at New Delhi and submitted a memorandum for a central assistance of Rs 1843 crore.